Friday, 18 January 2013

Sometimes it is necessary to cancel a gig.In the past it has usually been, on my part, for health reasons (I won't go into the weird and wonderful reasons clients give for cancelling a booking).However, given the current weather conditions (it is snowing a blizzard all across south west England), it proves impossible to get to a venue.

Today I was booked to perform at a beautiful Golf Club complex on the Welsh borders. Unfortunately even some of the motorways have been closed with snow drifts and this morning it was obvious that I wouldn't be able to travel to the venue and, even more importantly, the audience would not be able to get there either.This is where a good agent comes into his own and earns his commission.

I got a call just before lunch saying the client would appreciate it if we could postpone the event until after the bad weather had cleared. I am assuming sometime in the next month or so.I agreed to postpone. I was very dubious about making it to the venue anyway and having the agent negotiate on my behalf meant there could be no bad feelings on either side.

This easily demonstrated why, even in these days of the Internet and instant communication, an agent has a place in our business.